On the Road-Jasper Canada, Inukshuk; Mt. Whistler

Tuesday, Sept. 1

Mount Whistler

We drove to catch the first Tramway up 5000 feet and above the tree line on this mountain. There is supposed to be some wildlife up there but no one I spoke to saw any more than mosquitoes. The mountain gets its name from the whistling sound made by the Marmot who is supposed to be there. This Mt. Whistler is not to be confused with the famous Mt. Whistler skiing area next to Vancouver. These were biting like crazy at 10:00 until 12:30 when we left. You are surrounded by beautiful mountains in all directions as you climb a steep path. The air is thin and one is always struggling to catch one's breath. At the summit or near the summit is a metal disk which looks a lot like a sundial. But this is a mountain pointer. You move the raised wedge around the dial and it points you to any of 20 mount ins.

Inukshuk
These Inuit stone markers are a form of Cairns used by ancient peoples as markers for navigation, road trails, burial, and caribou slaughter cliffs. The Inukshuk was used by Indians of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. They are piles of stones that are quite evident and the word "Inukshuk" apparently means "takes the place of a person." There are some stone markers which are formed to look like a person but they are called by a slightly different name than Inukshuk. On the barren mountain people had erected dozens and dozens of these Inukshuks. I said to David "maybe people come up here each summer and construct these since there is no wildlife to destroy them and no vegetation to obscure them." The Indians here are quite vocal about wrongs done to them and this may an expression of native pride. I have also read that the Inukshuk is becoming the national symbol of Canada and maybe that is why everyone is making them.

Athabasca Falls and the Icefileld Highway
We drove down the Ice field Highway as a scenic experience and to get to Lake Louise. The entire 3 1/2 hour drive you follow the beautiful Athabasca River and are surrounded by beautiful varied looking mountains. The best place that we stopped to see was the Athabasca Falls. These produce the wildest water flow that we have ever seen. In several different places new pools of rapidly swirling water work their way through the rock causing beautiful ruts in all the rock around them. There are lots of warning signs around the fences as ever year someone thinks that they will just step on the rock outside the since and end up slipping to their death. They was a touching memoriam on a bench at one point to this young man-Roger, he was 21- who went hiking with friends in 2002 and made one bad choice.

PRINCESS LOUISE CAROLINE ALBERTA

Since we are at Lake Louise in the Canadian Province of Alberta, I would like to mention where these names come from. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta was the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Her husband was named Governor General of Canada in the 1880s and as a love gift he gave her gift of all of her names being names of Canada. We haven't come upon Caroline yet.